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Some Black Friday sales start Thursday night

When Black Friday started in the 1960s, as a means to ring in the Christmas shopping season, retailers hoped to move their finances from the “red” to the “black”. But fifty years later, businesses are almost foregoing the original plans and beginning their sales after the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday night.In Sweetwater, Wal-Mart will have three different times for shoppers to take advantage of their sales, as the first will kick off at 8 p.m. on Thursday, followed by a 10 p.m. sale. At 5 a.m. on Friday, they will once again open their doors to offer even more savings to customers.Another local store offering earlier sales is Bealls, as a representative with the department store noted that this will be their first year to offer early savings starting on Thanksgiving night at 8 p.m. On Black Friday, they will open early at 6 a.m. for door-buster sales and will remain open until 9 p.m.Also on Black Friday, three local retailers will open early. Starting at 5 a.m., K-Mart will offer sales, followed by Radio Shack--located inside Higginbotham Bartlett--at 6 a.m., and then Cato at 7 a.m.Both K-Mart and Radio Shack will have Black Friday deals, but a local Cato representative stated that while they will open earlier than usual, they will have no sales for Black Friday.For most of these retailers, a majority of their items will be marked down throughout the entire store. However, items are limited and for some businesses, rain-checks will not be available.Gifts like gaming systems and video games, toys for children of all ages, and electronics like computers and tablets will be among the hot items for sale. Other deals will include clothing, winter apparel, jewelry, shoes, home appliances, holiday decor and small novelty gift items.To ensure what items will be on sale, these businesses and more will list their Black Friday circulars on their respective websites, along with a store map so customers can head to their item of choice. In addition, shoppers can also learn online which stores will offer layaway for particular products.For out-of-town shopping, other large businesses will have Thursday night sales. According to their websites, Toys ‘R Us will be open on 8 p.m. on Thursday, while Target will open at 9 p.m. that night to offer a variety of limited door-buster deals.But in an effort to stick with the original intent of Black Friday, Best Buy stated on their website that they will open at midnight on Friday to offer shoppers a slew of savings on a variety of electronics.No matter when your holiday shopping begins--whether it’s on Thursday night or Friday morning, one thing is for sure: Black Friday, whether you’re ready or not, means that Christmas is just around the corner.